Florida Hospital Center Ice Construction Delayed

By Matt Wiley

As the Tampa Premium Outlets mall gears up for its Grand Opening at the end of October, one of the other major developments on the northeastern side of the S.R. 56/I-75 interchange has experienced a slight setback and the developers of Florida Hospital Center Ice (FHCI) now say that the opening of the largest ice skating facility in Florida has been delayed until the spring of 2016.

Developer Gordie Zimmermann of Z Mitch, LLC, says that construction will begin this month on the foundation for FHCI, after revisions had to be made to the structural, architectural and mechanical design at the site.

“Everything’s good, now,” Zimmermann explains. “We just needed to make sure that all of our engineering and plans were correct. We have to get it right the first time.”

Ground officially was broken on the $20-million, 150,500-sq.-ft. ice skating facility on Cypress Ridge Blvd. (off S.R. 56) in February of this year and initial plans indicated that it would be opening around the same time as the outlet mall, which still is on track to open in October.

Zimmermann says that because of the building’s large, underground piping system that will help keep the four ice pads frozen, some planned structural columns had to be shuffled around. He insists that the issue is resolved now and didn’t have anything to do with permitting with the county, just a revision of the site’s foundation plans.

“Of course, we would’ve loved to open before the (2015) holidays,” Zimmermann explains. “But, leagues develop in the spring for the fall seasons and we’ll still be able to host summer camps. Really, the best time to come online is in the spring. It works well with a lot of the programs that we’ll have (at the facility).”

For more information, please visit FloridaHosptialCenterIce.com.